


How To Get Away With Murder

by BeneatheMask



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Manipulation, My First Fanfic, don't let the summary deceive you, no beta we die like men, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 23:22:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21418369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeneatheMask/pseuds/BeneatheMask
Summary: Yep, confirmed. Akechi Goro’s greatest fear has been confirmed. Shido was taking him to Destinyland.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Shido Masayoshi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 40





	How To Get Away With Murder

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to:  
\- My beloved P5 roleplay group who dared me the plot  
\- @Kuga_22 for filling in the perfect Shido  
\- My sisters at ShiAke church who inspired me to put it into proper writing

There are two ways he could go about dealing with this, Akechi Goro thought as he flushed the vomit down the third toilet of the day. Gripping the hospital report in one hand, the other pushing a pile of napkins out of the tissue box, he ran them under the faucet and furiously wiped his lips. There are two ways he could go about dealing with this:

One, he could storm Shido's office, threw the documents at his face and call it quit.

Two, he could behave like an adult and give Shido some benefits of the doubt, or regard this as, what's the word the man would use in situations like this? Ah, _occupational hazard._

And Akechi, Akechi was already sixteen. He considered himself matured enough to be responsible for his own actions. He also wanted others to see him as such, especially Shido Masayoshi.

Thus, he went with the latter.

  
\----------------------------

  
“Shido-san.” he took a deep bow at the door before entering all the way, trying to keep his opinions at bay and his feelings solely about the carpet patterns on the floor.

“Apologies for the sudden meeting. As briefed on the phone, I came to report about the case we discussed last week,” he said while carefully placed the neat files on the desk. “This is from the hospital. Details are somewhat gory, you can read them later. In short, the man is dead, Shido-san.”

Photographic memories threatened to enter his frontal lobe again, he ignored them together with the rising nausea.

“Is that so...” the man took the files right away and opened them, appeared to be attentively reading through everything. “...So that is what would happen.”

Shido closed it and put it back on the desk.

“Good job, you have proven yourself useful. Anything else?”

“I...”

Akechi has already been second-guessing his choice from earlier. Maybe he could choose again now, between punching that bald-head in the face, and punching that bald-head in the face. Shido can't be fucking serious, can he? Fucking hell. A person just fucking _died_ because Shido told him to destroy the victim's cognition to "give a theory a test". What the fuck does he mean _anything else_?

Yet, Akechi did no such thing as punching the bald-head in the face. Instead, he just stood, his gloved index finger twitched as if closing in on an invisible trigger.

“I suppose not...”

“What's wrong?”

In the temporary fit of rage, he didn't realize the adult already crossed arms and leaned back on his chair, dark eyes observing him through tinted shades.

“Don't tell me you feel guilty for ending a life without knowing? People die every day from accidents, it's a waste of time to linger on one death when there are more important things to focus on.”

Akechi’s hands subconsciously balled into fists.

“Did you... Shido-san, did you _know_ ahead of time that killing someone's cognitive self in the Other World would... do this... to them in real life?”

He didn't get an answer for a few seconds that felt like days with the tension between them. Usually, Akechi would back down, breaking the discomfort with a smile that turns his eyes half-moon, maybe throwing in a few ass-kissing comments. Not today. He waited for the man to speak again.

“Did you forget that _you_, so far, have been the only one who could enter a person's mind and test that out? None of us, including the psience researchers, know what would happen to a person without their cognitive self living. Not until what you just did anyway.” Shido’s voice was exuding apathy.

The unbearable indifference was agitating Akechi more and more by the seconds.

“We could... We could just stop at driving them psychotic, right? The killing was not necessary at all. Shido-san, I didn't intend for him to die.”

_“Great, that didn’t come out desperate at all.” _he felt Loki stirred in his chest, mockingly.

Before he could mentally squat the Persona away, Shido spoke again with a disappointed sigh.

“But you were the one agreed to this. If I have a breakdown like you every time something bad happens, how am I to steer this country on its right path?”

Shido paused, watching the teen obviously struggled to keep his expressions neutral, then slowly uncrossed his arms and leaned forward on the desk. “Fine, you will go somewhere with me the day after tomorrow. Be grateful that I'd give you this opportunity over my busy schedule.”

The change of topic was so unexpected Akechi stumbled on his poorly constructed, multi-topic response.

“I... What? No, I'm not having a breakdown, I just simply... Where are we going?”

“You will know soon. For now, you are excused. Go home and rest until I contact you again.”

And that’s that between them, until two days later.

\----------------------------

** _A.G:_ ** _ “I'm here at Maihama Station as instructed. It's so crowded I can't locate you. I'm at the JL ticket gate overlooks Destinyland.”_

  
The young detective pressed the send button on his phone just in time to look up and narrowly avoided collision with a little boy came running his way, his mother yelling after him.

It has been the third time within the past hour. Akechi was trying hard not to keep bumping into families and tourists that were obviously there for the theme park.

_“What kind of government business does he even have out here I wonder...” _

He looked around, and almost immediately caught sight of a familiar figure pushing through hordes of people, coming towards him.

Well, not exactly familiar. Shido was wearing casual clothes, a shirt and pair of pants that, ah, blend in with the merry park goers crowd around him. No, Goro would rather not go into detailed description of the attire. Never in his lifetime could he imagine Shido Masayoshi in, well, _this_. He has even replaced his shades with less intimidating ones.

Akechi’s mouth hung open as he took in the sight in front of him, from head to toe, and back up again. Astonishment failed to stay unvoiced, he blurted.

“Shido-san, w-what are you wearing?!”

“What does it look like? Clothes?” even in ridiculous fashion (or well, maybe not _that_ ridiculous, just by Shido Masayoshi standard), the man sounded annoyed as ever. “For now, take off the tie, then we will go in. You are too noticeable in that suit.”

Yep, confirmed. Akechi Goro’s greatest fear has been confirmed. Shido was taking him to Destinyland. He was mortified. What he was unsure about though, was the reason behind such horror. Half of it was obviously the absurdity of going to _Destinyland_, of all places, with this person, of all people. The other half, well, he was suddenly made aware of how overdressed he appeared compare to everybody else now in his usual uptight jacket and tie.

Akechi hates looking like he doesn’t get the memo, so he did as told, taking off the tie, hung the blazer on one arm, rolling up both sleeves as they walked across the cheesy musical bridge towards the park gate.

Still in a state of shock, Akechi chanced occasional glances at the adult next to him, a thousand questions popped like fireworks in his head, but he only ended up asking one.

“So... Shido-san, do you like roller coasters?”

The look he received was as though he has grown two heads.

“Excuse me? Whatever makes you think I would enjoy anything you youngsters like? If you want then we will ride one. Pick whatever you feel like going on.”

The brunette immediately retreated back into his shell.

“Oh... No, I suppose not... To be quite honest I haven't been on a roller coaster, ever. I didn't get to as a child. I don't know what's fun here...”

Polite smile died on his lips as he noticed Shido was not looking at him, nor seemed to have been listening at all. They kept walking in silence, passing the ticket gate, onto the main street filled with colorful shops, music, and a subtle scent of freshly baked sugar-glazed pastries.

It was supposed to be quite cheerful, yet the pair of them just stood in the middle of the street, with Akechi staring up at the gleaming castle from afar. After a while, he asked, so quietly his voice almost got lost in the park ambiance.

“Shido-san, why did you take me here? Why today?” he heard the man huffed beside him at the question.

“You said you’ve never been here before huh. Good, take this as a reward for your hard work. Looking at your face the other day, I figured you need a vacation. And what’s better relaxation than a day at Destinyland? Especially for kids like you.”

There was something about the way Shido spoke, and the fact that he was obviously listening before, made Akechi turned his head just in time to catch a hint of a smirk that dissipated so quickly he might as well has imagined it, before Shido left their spot to walk towards a souvenir stand nearby, didn’t even look to see if the teen followed.

“We will try out all the rides at least once. Whatever you want you can buy them. Go on.”

As Shido watched, Akechi hesitantly stepped forward to take hold of a hat with two long puppy ears sewn on top, stared at it for a little while, and muttered.

“So... this is for murdering that man huh.”

“Don't talk about things like that when you're at an amusement park for God's sake!”

Akechi reacted to Shido’s annoyance as if he has just been hit on the head. In immediate hindsight it was such a stupid mistake, anyone else in this crowd could have heard them. He needed to fix it, fast.

“I-I’m sorry!” the brunette uttered desperately, glancing around to make sure no one has noticed the unusual.

A suffocating pause. Then Shido spoke again, tone low and sounded somewhat softer.

“Like I said, accidents happen so you should learn to deal with it. Besides, you have seen his Other World. Not exactly the type deserves to walk this earth much longer, is he?”

Still feeling slightly chastened, Akechi couldn’t help but think about what the adult just said. Turning the hat in his hand, he thought back on his past week raiding the target’s cognitive world. Although small, all nastiness of that distorted heart was still on full display and trying to off him at any chance it could muster up. Similar to all he drove insane before, rotten adults could truly carry murderous ambition and twisted desires. Hell, he was staring one in the face right this moment.

They do deserve death.

_“...Do they?” _

The voice in his head was small, sounded frighteningly like a child he once knew, the same kid who begged his broke mother for a ray gun outside a Christmas toy shop. The _ally of justice_.

Squeezing both eyes shut briefly, Akechi violently willed the voice away. He put the hat back, looked up and forced a smile.

“It's ok, I don't want anything. Thank you for taking me here though, Shido-san, I truly appreciate the effort. I'm not a fan of rides anyway so we can just enjoy the scenery instead. I'm sure you're more comfortable with that, right?” his smile widened. “I've read that there are many VIP services here for someone of your caliber. Exclusive and…”

“Stop making that face. It's annoying.”

The smile slipped off of him like melted snow.

“This is for you, not me. How on earth do you think I can work with someone who keeps forcing a smile at my side? It would make me look bad as well. How much is the hat?”

Before Akechi could react, Shido already had his wallet out and was paying the stall attendant. He felt the hat dropped onto his head shortly after.

“This is an order, forget about that... _incident_ for a day. You can think about it later when you have calmed down. Am I clear?”

The brunette’s blood drained from his veins under the authoritarian look, but he held the gaze.

“Yes, sir.”

The crease between Shido’s brows lightened, he turned away and Akechi let out a sigh of relief, privately adjusted the animated hat as if to hide his face. Clutching the work briefcase in front with both hands, he fell into a silent walk beside the adult once more, further into the park.

Then suddenly, Akechi heard it.

“Oh... Oh! That music, it’s from the parade I think. I have seen a video about it online once!” he perked up.

“You want to watch it?” came the question.

Noticed the excitement must have shown on his face, he embarrassingly looked down again, attempted to run a hand through his hair, which ended up being the hat's puppy ear.

“Ah... Well... I... If you don't mind? I can see it from here though, no need to squeeze through this crowd, Shido-san.”

His weak request fell on deaf ears, Shido was already pushing through the sea of people, one hand on the bridge of his glasses as if to hide his identity. Horrified, Akechi lurched behind, only to be grabbed and pushed in front by the man. Now he was standing facing no obstacles, seeing the festive parade coming from afar.

Still slightly apologetic to the people shoved aside, and even more so, feeling awkward in the unfamiliar social setting, at first Akechi just stood still, scratching his nose occasionally whenever the cute parade dancers approached too close with their flashy smiles. People around him did not seem to mind at all though. Adults and children alike, they waved and cheered and clapped to the music. It would be a lie to say that the atmosphere was not contagious. Well, maybe to one person, whose cold presence Akechi could feel even with his back turned.

It was not until he caught sight of a giant, red thing with wings gliding into view under the sun, did the brunette practically start bouncing on his feet.

“Papa! Papa, look... it’s Baymax!” a boy next to him screamed in frantic excitement.

“And Hiro-kun too...” Akechi whispered under his breath, eyes blown wide, staring at the absolutely majestic robot advancing towards them.

The Japanese actor in costume on top smiled down at the crowd. For a moment, Akechi could have sworn he was specifically spotted by him. The actor waved, and despite himself, Akechi waved back.

“So you like that huh…”

The low voice behind him sounded no louder than the wind, and for the first time in his life, Akechi pretended he didn’t hear Shido Masayoshi. It did not seem like the man was expecting an answer, anyway.

\----------------------------

The day passed without further commotions. They went on some rides, watched a few more performances, and by the time the end-of-day fireworks started, Akechi has left his briefcase in a locker somewhere, holding a huge cotton candy in one hand, wearing a glowing multicolor light ring round his neck, and humming along with the music.

“Wow...” he stared in awe as the castle burst into a thousand lights like stars on the velvet sky.

Fireworks climaxed above them, raining glittery sparkles down the whole park and its many spectators.

Even when the show ended, the crowd didn’t make immediate move. Most were still looking up, breathing in the cool air that smelled like popcorn. Akechi could understand the sentiment somewhat, though. Something about the music, the lights, and this place, was endearing. Akechi felt a strange nostalgia despite not having Destinyland a part of his childhood. He observed the park-goers, little girls in princess dresses holding their mothers’ hands, lovers kissing, and a father struggling to cover his sleeping child on his shoulder while pushing an empty pram with one hand.

Akechi let out a chuckle.

“Wow... Haha... That was good, made me tear up a bit. I think we'd better move, Shido-san, the station is going to be very crowded.”

Then he cheerily half-skipped towards the park gate lockers to retrieve his briefcase.

\----------------------------

When they were finally situated on the train back to city center, the fun was starting to wear off and Akechi, admittedly, was getting tired. He once again fell into awkward silence beside the man.

“You seem to have had a lot of fun today. Are you feeling better now?”

Startled into a full-body jerking motion, Akechi realized he has been slipping off into dreamland with his eyes open. The question caught him off guard but Shido didn't seem to be in a hurry. The man was taking his time, removing his shades to replace them with the usual yellow tinted pair, casually wiping off a dirt spot, while Akechi was beating his consciousness into alert.

“Well... Yes, of course. It was a very... unique experience for me. Thank you, Shido-san, really. You didn't have to…”

“Good then. A reward is supposed to make you happy. Are you able to work tomorrow?” Shido's expression was hard to read.

“What do... I mean, yes, yes of course. A job is a job and I strive to be professional and reliable. What do you need?” the young detective’s plastic smile was almost back in full capacity.

“Excellent. I will send you the details later tonight. For now just go home and rest. It has been a long day for both of us. However, I expect you to be able to fulfill that statement of yours from tomorrow. I need you to be on your best behavior.”

Just then, the train reached a station and Shido stood up. Mechanically, Akechi did too. He stepped out on the platform with the adult although it was not his stop yet, stood the straightest he could manage, then bowed deeply.

“Thank you again for today, Shido-san. It's been an honor working with you. Truly rare seeing politicians taking time to care for their employees these days. I shall await your directive tonight, then?”

“Do whatever you want, just get some rest. I will see you at my office when the job is done.”

With that, Shido turned and walked away, not looking back.

\----------------------------

Akechi got home by himself. He placed the park souvenirs carefully on the minimalistic bookshelf, with the light necklace around the puppy hat. Then he took shower in silence, got changed, and slid into bed.

Feeling relatively more comfortable, he turned his phone notification setting to maximum volume and kept scrolling up down the screen in anticipation, before falling asleep unknowingly with the screen still on. The digital clock showed 12:25AM.

\----------------------------

Akechi jointed awake from a nightmare he could not bring himself to remember even though it was just moments ago. Frantically searching for the rectangular-shaped electronic device, he cursed silently, seeing it was nowhere to be found on the small bed. The sky was still dark, and judging by how much his heart was pounding in his chest, Akechi knew he hasn't slept for more than half an hour. He did not know what woke him, though, not until he rolled to the side of the bed and saw his mobile phone has fallen face-up on the carpeted floor, green led light blinking rapidly at him. An email, from whom he knew exactly. Received at 1:00AM sharp, the clock now reads 1:01AM. Without a doubt, Shido's email has woken him.

Stumbled with the phone, it took his shaky fingers three attempts to finally unlock a single layer of biometric security. Further down the message he scrolled, Akechi felt his world cave in.

It read.

_"**To**: [encrypted-address]_

** _From_ ** _: [encrypted-address]_

** _Subject_ ** _: [None]_

** _Attachment_ ** _: [encrypted-file]_

_I want you to do the same thing you did last time to this person. You will invade their mind, kill the target's cognition then report back to me immediately. Every detail should be recorded for research purposes. _

_It's inevitable so don't think about finding another way for them. Sometimes you need to get your hands dirty to reach greater goals. Such is the fate of those who yearn to change the world. I expect to continue working with you for a long, long time, Akechi Goro. _

_This is what you've signed up for. Don't waste my expectations on you."_

A choked cry escaped white fingers pressed tightly on his lips. They followed to unsuccessfully contain a painful scream that filled the empty room.

Luckily, this property that has been paid for by Shido Masayoshi is the most upscale, the most convenient in the heart of Shibuya, and the most soundproof. Small reward, really, from a corrupt politician to his personal assassin. And from a father to his son.

**Author's Note:**

> Anddddd that's a wrap! My first fanfic! Ever!  
I didn't use the usual terms like "Shadow" or "Metaverse" because setting was before Phantom Thieves' existence and the Conspiracy was probably using different terminologies.  
Thanks everyone for stopping by! English is not my native language so feel free to tear my grammar and vocab into pieces in your comments down below!  
I'm on discord BeneatheMask#9794 or Twitter @AlexNguyen0605 if anyone wants to stay connected!


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